The Law of Car Repair says that because it is the oddball, it will be the one that's causing the problem and needs to be replaced.

 

You can get all of the idlers and an OEM belt for less than 300 from Subaru, at least you should be able to.

 

The belt is ~$100, the tensioner is ~$100, the water pump is ~$100, and that doesn't include the 4 idlers (all those prices are online, not local)..

 

Contitech and OEM are same price for me from worldpac

Its the little one.

 

The bracket it mounts to is listed as the same part number for 2000-2005 (production date) on the 2.0 DOHC Turbo motors why the pulley would be different is beyond me.

 

I just got the later model part from NAPA, should be here tomorrow.


For general info, the idler part switch was sometime in 2002, and the earlier part took the shorter bolt. The early idler is Subaru # 13073AA200, and takes the shorter bolt which is Subaru # 80820830. The later idler is Subaru # 13073AA230, and I didn't bother looking up the bolt part #.



Now to figure out why one of my two radiator fans isn't turning on like it's supposed to in this 100 degree weather in Colorado... I haven't driven the car yet this summer in the hot weather and it's idling high once it warms up. Stupid little bullshit that isn't supposed to happen to a 60k mile car... WTF.

 

The only difference is the pulley part number, which changed at some VIN# breakpoint partway through the 2002 model year according to my dealership parts guy (who is a wealth of info).

The big mystery is why Gates uses the early part in that one kit listed for 02-03 when Subaru only used that idler for less than 1/2 of the 2002 model year. The Gates idler listed for 2002-2010 is the later model part number, so why they make two different kits (an 02-03 and an 04) is beyond me.




Thanks for everyone's help by the way, you gave me enough info to find out everything and what my options are.